The Southwestern Company Alumni Blog
 This past week redandblack.com, a student newspaper serving the University of Georgia, ran an article, I Would Bike 4,000 Miles, about Adam Nubern who is biking 4,000 miles this summer with Bike and Build. Bike and Build, is a nonprofit organization that raises money and awareness for affordable housing. Adam sold books with The Southwestern Company for two summers. “He will bike from Charleston, S.C., to Santa Cruz, Calif., helping build homes during rest stops and devoting eight days to new homes in Colorado. Of the eight routes riders may choose from, Nubern is taking the route that logs the most build days than any other trip in Bike and Build’s history. Nubern said he learned the value of a family home as a door-to-door book salesman.
After talking to hundreds of families, he said he realized how important the home is in the development of families and communities.”It’s where families come together to share and grow with one another. All the relational aspects of life happen at the home,” Nubern said.
I know there are countless alumni serving others and I hope to tell you more about them as time goes on. Until I sold books through Southwestern, I’m not sure I truly realized how much your life is enriched when you are serving others. Most of the time I look at the calendar and wonder where all the time went. At the end of each Southwestern summer I felt very much the same way. However, in the midst of those twelve weeks on the bookfield there was an occasional day I thought would never end. It was those days I was grateful I had learned to help control my attitude by breaking up my goals. During my cross country years I quickly learned to focus on getting to that next tree, then the stop sign…etc. If I focused on the whole race at once it seemed impossible. At Southwestern I broke the summer down to weeks, the weeks down to days, and the days down to goal periods. During those later weeks on the bookfield I sometimes needed a little more to keep me going. It was then I started to dedicate my weeks to different things. By far, my favorite week was Service Week. I spent my mental energy that week focusing on providing the best service I could to everyone I met. And that didn’t mean making sure they all bought books. I could have been making an elderly woman smile, or reminding parents how important it is to read to their kids. We make a difference every day. I would also give away a Volume Library set that week. What an amazing feeling! That week always flew by, and lo and behold, it was usually one of my best sales weeks of the summer. When I stopped worrying about myself and the things I wanted, and focused on helping others get what they needed, everything fell in to place. Being service-miinded is just one of the many lessons of the bookfield. Good luck Adam and Carolina! |
I also learned of another two-summer bookwoman, Carolina Canavati who is biking with the
